‘Playing House’ Producer-Stars Talk Fans, Guest Stars, Twitter – TCA

How much of a chatter-fest was this? Referring here to today’s TCA panel on USA’s Playing House, featuring stars/executive producers Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham. With few pauses for breath, the pair gabbed and giggled their way through a discussion of their comedy, a follow-up to the pair’s NBC semi-autobiographical comedy series Best Friends Forever.

Two topics seemed to float to the surface: One, guest stars, and two, Twitter. The pair has managed to persuade a number of big-name stars to guest on the show, including several former colleagues from Upright Citizens Brigade. One big Brigade exception: Amy Poehler. “We are coming for her in Season 3, so she should get a restraining order,” jokes St. Clair.

On their self-proclaimed enormous fan base (they call them “Jammers”), the two declare that they answer every tweet, which has gotten to be a headache as the fan base grows. They note that Jammers tend to spill their own personal stories in their tweets, and adopt the language of the show. “If we say ‘totes kewl’ (they’ll pick it up),” Parham says.

What’s not “totes kewl” is that so much tweeting can make it more difficult to maintain plot secrecy, the pair reports. This is particularly true since the fans tweet about the show to recruit more Jammers. For the new season St. Clair promises “twists and turns that are really going to shock people,” adding: “We are going to have to do a PSA about spoilers to protect those Jammers.”